Greetings from Dunedin, the largest city I’ve seen so far in the South Island and center of Scottish descendancy in New Zealand. Dunedin is mostly a student town, but its Scottish heritage is plainly seen in everything from the giant statue of poet Robert Burns in the centre of the “Octagon” (the main square) to the availability of haggis in stores. I feel like all we need is some plaid, some scotch and shortbread cookies, and some loudly-read Scottish poetry.
The city – well, more of a large town – is filled with confusing streets, cafes, shops and bars. I visited the Art Gallery this afternoon, which had an interesting photography exhibit by Ans Westra, one of NZ’s leading photographers. Dunedin is also home to the Cadbury Factory of New Zealand, which manufactures a huge proportion of the country’s chocolate, and to which I will surely be paying a visit tomorrow.
Yesterday was spent exploring Queenstown. I rode the gondola up to the hill above town, did one of the scenic walking tracks around the top, and spent some time watching people paraglide and bungee off the mountain. It wouldn’t be Queenstown if there weren’t constantly people flying through the air. I also tried the luge, which isn’t like the Olympic variety; for one thing, there’s no ice, and for another, the cart has wheels and actual steering and brakes. It was fun, though.
Only one week left in New Zealand – gotta go make the most of it!
Hi there,,,,your sister toured the Cadbury factory in Birmingham and called it ‘Choclate Heaven’… It must be in the genes. Have a sweet visit!!….M
A full tour
Wow! You’ve really been through all of New Zealand–very impressive!
–Jon
You know, it just occurred to me that you could use TravelPod to tell friends about your stay-cation (instead of a vacation) just like Brent Butt did in Corner Gas.
All you have to do is steal other people’s pictures, and then you can talk at length about all the neat stuff you did while ‘abroad’. :p